


Crimson

by Nyrandrea



Series: The 2D AU Headboop Saga [9]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Alternate Universe - 2D Bendy (Bendy and the Ink Machine), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 02:52:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12049791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyrandrea/pseuds/Nyrandrea
Summary: 'Bendy' starts to finally gain the upper hand and as Henry and Bendy get desperate, their bond gets heightened to a dangerous new level.





	Crimson

**Author's Note:**

> Just a small warning here for mentions of blood.

Henry’s body slammed lifelessly against the hard, wooden wall. He felt completely numb, a faint voice called out his name.

The man could barely lift his head, he wasn’t even sure how much longer he was going to last. But he couldn’t give up now, he had to protect Bendy from that…thing.

As if on cue, a loud hiss suddenly caught his attention, and he looked up to see that the thin, black, lanky creature was inching closer to the piece of paper that was laying on the floor.

The piece of paper that his friend resided on.

_‘Shit…’_ Henry grimaced as 'Bendy’ reached out to the paper with its long, spindly claws.  _'No, I can’t let that thing get him…I’ll have to distract it somehow…’_  

The older man wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to take another beating, his body was already covered in bruises and deep gashes thanks to that monster. But… if it meant getting it away from Bendy, he was more than willing.

Mustering up as much strength as he possibly could, Henry grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a splintered piece of wood that had probably broken off from the wall, and weakly threw it at the creature.

 Luckily, it managed to hit 'Bendy’ lightly on the head, resulting in the creature quickly swivelling it’s head in his direction, it’s clawed hand hovered just above Bendy’s page. The little demon on said page also turned his attention to the older man, a petrified look on his face as inky tears welled up in his eyes.

“Leave…” Henry clenched his teeth as he struggled to get up. “L-leave Bendy alone…” He barely managed to stutter out, his arms trembled as they weakly supported his upper body, “It’s m-me…who you want…" 

This seemed to catch the creature’s attention as it turned it’s body fully towards him and flexed it’s claws slightly, it’s grinning face frowned. It seemed as though it was pondering on who to attack first. Henry was determined to help the monster make up it’s mind.

"You started the job…” Henry growled before his expression turned furious. “Now come on and finish it, you freak!” He yelled at the tall, thin beast, catching it by surprise. It’s bewildered look soon turned into a malicious grin, as it hissed at him in reply. The older man felt an odd wave of both relief and panic wash over him.

_'Oh, thank God…at least Bendy will be safe.’_  He thought, before cringing slightly.  _'Can’t say the same for me though…heh…round two, here we go…’_  The man amusedly thought to himself, but his thoughts were interrupted by Bendy’s sudden, fear filled voice.

“H-Henry, what…what a-are you saying…? You’re…you’re gonna die!” Henry flinched slightly as he heard Bendy’s voice crack, it pained him to hear the demon’s usually joyful voice so…desperate.

_'Sorry bud…’_  Henry tiredly smirked as 'Bendy’ slowly started stalking it’s way towards him, dragging it’s awkwardly angled leg while continuing to flex it’s claws as it grinned maniacally down at it’s prey.

“HENRY!” Bendy hopelessly screamed as the creature grabbed Henry by the neck and hoisted his limp body up, before slamming him against the wooden wall. The older man had to gasp for breath as he felt the air get knocked right out of him, causing him to cough and wheeze quite violently.  

'Bendy’ grinned and loosened it’s grip around his neck just a tiny bit to allow the man to breathe a little easier. As grateful as his lungs were, Henry couldn’t help but feel utterly confused, perhaps it just didn’t want Henry to suffocate quite so quickly, to prolong his suffering.

He got his answer has he felt something sharp softly prod at his stomach, and pricked him ever so slightly every time he took a breath.

_'Yeah…figures…’_  Henry bitterly thought.  _'Of course, it just wants to make me suffer for longer. It wants to fucking torture me. Bastard…’_

'Bendy’’s grin only got bigger and wider as it slowly dug it’s spindly gloved fingers deeper into his stomach, the older man couldn’t take breath without getting jabbed, he was going to have to make his breathing shallower to avoid any real damage, although he already knew it was pointless. He was so weakened that all he could manage to do was grip onto the arm that had him pinned up. Henry was at the mercy of the monster.

And yet…instead of fear, he felt…rage. Pure, unfiltered rage.

Henry’s eyes widened slightly when he heard a deep, garbled voice echo through his mind.

_'Get away from him…Get away from him… **Get away from him…!’**_

Henry could feel the pent-up rage within him escalate quickly, he had felt Bendy’s anger before but…nothing like this.

Where was Bendy anyway? Was he safe? Henry tried his best to move his head to see over the creature’s shoulder but to no avail. His body was just too tired and beaten up to respond.

What Henry couldn’t manage to see was truly something of a spectacle.  

Ink bubbled around the piece of paper that laid dormant on the wooden floorboards. The fresh droplets of blood that had been splattered onto it started to slowly mix in with the living ink, resulting in a swirl of jet black and crimson liquid intertwining with each other, until they finally came together. Vein-like splatters extended from the page and onto the wooden floorboards as the bubbling ink mass rose higher and higher.

Henry clenched his eyes shut as 'Bendy’ dug his claws in even deeper, and grunted slightly as they finally pierced into his stomach, although the pain was excruciating, his rising temper was even more so, it was becoming unbearable to handle. It was undeniably Bendy’s anger but…where the hell was he?

Henry’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted as 'Bendy’ hissed into his face, clearly annoyed at the fact that it was being ignored. But it soon grinned again when it saw the pained look in the older man’s face. The creature made an odd sound that resembled a kind of cackling as it was clearly enjoying itself.

However, it’s smile soon faded when Henry’s pained look turned into one of fierce aggression as the human glared daggers at the monster. This seemed to catch 'Bendy’s intrigue as it lowered it’s head and seemed to study him for a moment. The sudden red glint in Henry’s eye caught it’s interest for a few seconds before it sneered and raised it’s clawed hand once again to finally strike it’s prey down once and for all.

That moment never came though, as the creature was suddenly and violently swiped away by a large inky hand, causing it to fly across the hallway and crash onto the floor. Henry slid down the wall and clutched at his aching throat as he coughed and gasped for much needed air, and looked up as a shadow loomed over him, Bendy took a protective stance above the older man, clearly ready for a fight.

Henry’s breath got caught in his throat for a moment at Bendy’s sudden and fiercely intimidating presence, sending the human’s emotions into a flurry. He could physically feel the sheer, raw power emanating from the large demon, with the slow but still building rage, it was almost unbearable for the poor man to handle. Luckily, he just managed to keep his composure, which was hopefully anchoring Bendy down a little bit too, but he wasn’t sure how long that was even going to last.

'Bendy’ scrambled to it’s feet and swayed slightly as it recovered from the attack, before hissing at it’s assailant viciously, to which Bendy replied with a low snarl, instantly shutting it up.

The creature studied both Bendy and Henry for a few moments before it lowered it’s head in a nervous manner, making Henry raise an eyebrow slightly. It had never done this before, usually it would just attack blindly but…now the monster actually looked reluctant and… almost frightened.

'Bendy’ surprised him once again by issuing out a loud screech before retreating back into the silent, ominous hallway, vanishing immediately into the dark shadows.

To say Henry was confused was a huge understatement, he was absolutely bewildered at this new behaviour, but he knew better than to question it. He was far too exhausted to investigate, besides he was going to have to clean up his fresh wounds soon anyway to avoid any kind of infection.

_'Well…at least the bleeding’s stopped.’_  Henry tried to positively think as he ran his fingers over one of the gashes, flinching slightly when he felt a sharp sting at the contact.

Not to mention he was going to have to calm Bendy down, the demon was silent but the human could still feel his anger.  

The older man took a breath and lifted a hand to check on the ink demon, but stopped instantly as the sound of a deep, gruff and pained voice suddenly filled his head, taking Henry completely by surprise.

_**'Henry…get away from here…’**_ That voice was undoubtedly Bendy’s, but how was he…? They had only communicated through their 'bond’ thing through emotions and feelings, not direct thoughts. Unless his last encounter with his dream had something to do with it…?

_**'Something’s wrong with me…’**_  Henry could feel the panic in the demon’s deep and gravelled voice.  _ **'This form…this power…’**_

Bendy started to tremble violently.

_**'I can’t contain it!!’**_ The devil shouted telepathically as he gripped onto the floorboards with his large, trembling hands.  

This raised the alarm bells for Henry as he ducked under Bendy and quickly made his way around to the front to get a better look at him to assess the situation easier. What the older man saw made his heart drop slightly, the demon looked absolutely petrified as large black tears welled up in his single eye.  

_'Wait…’_ Henry narrowed his own eyes slightly.  _'His pupil…it’s…turned red…’_  Once again, the human was completely perplexed.  _'How the Hell…?’_

But that wasn’t the only thing that was concerning him.

Bendy’s horns were becoming increasingly sharper and more curved, his flat teeth were becoming more fang-like, his fingers into claws…

_'Shit…’_ Henry could feel a blind panic start to take over him. _'Shit, no, I can’t deal with this…!’_ His fear seemed to be reaching Bendy, resulting in the demon’s trembling becoming more prominent. Henry flinched slightly, panic and rage did not mix well together at all, and they were both going to face the consequences if the human couldn’t calm him down.

The older man quickly smiled to try and ease the large devil, and cupped his hands around his still shivering head, this was a technique that he had used before, he was hopeful that it would work again.  

“Hey…everything’s alright, bud.” Henry said in a soft, reassuring voice while using his left hand to wipe away the demon’s inky tears away. “I’m here.” He laid his forehead against Bendy’s and tried to send him calm thoughts to quell his unbearably high temper.

_'I’m here…’_  

Henry could feel the trembling stop and sighed in relief as he lifted up his head to smile up at the devil once more.

His smile quickly turned into a look of horror though, as Bendy simply stared at him with his single, narrowing red pupil, his horns and teeth were still getting sharper by the second. The older man instantly removed his hands and took a few steps back as the silent monster hissed slightly.

“Bendy…c'mon…” Henry softly urged as he slowly put some distance between him and the unstable demon. “I know you can snap out of it, bud. You’ve done it before…!” He tried to say in a hopeful tone, his cracking voice didn’t exactly help though.

Bendy seemed to regain a little control as he moved back and tried to restrain himself by gripping his sharpening claws into the floorboards, which groaned a little in protest at the sudden pressure.

**“Henry….run…”**  Bendy quietly demanded in a gargled voice.

Henry frowned, there was no way he was just leaving Bendy here to deal with this himself, he needed support.  

“I’m afraid not, Bendy. I’m staying right here-”  

_**‘GO!’**_  The demon’s distorted voice mentally screamed at him, making the human cringe slightly.

That was the last thing he heard from Bendy, before his mind was filled with a numbing static.

The large monster hunched over and growled as his claws dug deeper into the floor, trickles of black and red spread out from underneath his hands and spread across the wood in a vein-like splatter, the rich smell of copper overwhelmed Henry’s nose, he had to resist the sudden urge to gag.

_'Is…is that…blood?’_ The older man could only stare at it in terror, it was almost like being in some sort of horror movie.

The horror sensation only amplified when Bendy suddenly crushed the wood with his dagger-like fingers, sending splinters of wood everywhere, and let out an ear-splitting roar, forcing the man to clutch his head as the static completely took over his mind, there was no way he was getting through to his friend now, he was just too far gone.  

The only option left was for him to get away as quickly as he could and find the safest place possible to wait the phase out, and only hope that Bendy would come to his senses sooner, rather than later.

Easier said than done, what with his recent injuries and whatnot.

But as Bendy focused on destroying the furniture around him in a wild frenzy, Henry decided to take this golden opportunity to slip away quietly, and ran as quickly as he could while holding onto his side to try and prevent his wounds from opening up again. 

He was going to have to be careful about this, there were no first aid kits nearby and he couldn’t afford to deal with any more blood loss. The axe was at least helping him with balance though, which made the whole running ordeal a little easier.  

Unfortunately, those same injuries slowed him down a considerable amount, and it wasn’t long before he was panting for breath. The older man had to slow to a stop as his body was wracked with pain at the sudden exertion of exercise, making him grimace slightly. He wasn’t going to able to go on for much longer, he was going to have to find a place to hide now.

Henry quickly found himself a tight knit corner and slipped into it, it wasn’t much but…it was the best hiding spot available, given his situation. His eyes widened slightly however, when he felt something rattle from behind him as he leaned against the wall. The human slowly turned his head and raised his axe to attack whatever it was, only for his frightened expression to turn into an unamused look once he saw what it was.

It was only a Bendy cardboard cut-out, which seemed to be grinning silently at Henry’s situation, making the man frown in annoyance, he never did like those things. Being as quiet as possible, he set it to the side, turning it away so it was facing the wall.

“Stupid thing…” Henry muttered as the initial scare wore off.

The blissful distraction also wore off however, as a loud thumping sounded off in the distance, Henry could feel the sudden instinct to hunt, and it wasn’t his own.

_'Shit…he must be looking for me…’_  The human tried his best to stifle his heavy breathing, but the constant ringing in his ears and the empty but overwhelming static that filled his mind made it very hard to concentrate on anything.

But as the thumping got closer, he could also hear the faint sound of growling. Bendy was undoubtedly close to his position, the demon’s presence was a powerful one. It wasn’t long until the once silent corridor was filled with loud grunting, snarling and the scraping of sharp claws on wood. It wasn’t going to be long until the demon found him now.

Henry could still feel Bendy’s anger get more powerful with every minute that passed, and he knew that if the demon found him, he was done for. The older man checked on his still delicate wounds to make sure they hadn’t re-opened before sighing to himself as he heard a crashing sound in a nearby room.

_'Well…he’s going to find me sooner or later anyway…may as well give this another shot…’_

Henry closed his eyes and, despite the ever-growing temper poking and prodding at his mind, tried to send out calm, soothing and reassuring thoughts out to the demon, it didn’t last for long however, as the mere act exhausted him. With the wounds, his numb and empty mind, and the constant building anger, he just didn’t have it in him to try anymore.  

He could only hope that something got through to the demon, and slid his back down the wall to sit down on the ink-filled floor. He let his arms drop down to his sides, and looked down as he steadied his breathing.

The crashing noise in the other room suddenly stopped however, as Henry felt a subtle hint of curiosity trickle in at the back of his mind.

_'Well…looks like he got the message…’_  He amusedly thought as he waited for what was to come.

There were a few moments of blissful silence before he felt a large shadow loom over him, and weakly looked up.

**“FOUND YOU…”**  Bendy teased with a terrible, gurgling voice that held a small hint of delight.

The demon’s dripping, fang-filled grin grew even wider with excitement as he flexed his claws onto the wooden floor, his single red pupil had shrunken into a tiny slit, making him look completely maddened and even almost rabid.

Despite how utterly terrified he was, Henry swallowed and smiled as assuredly as he could.

“Yeah…you found me, bud.” The older man said in a light, joking tone before coughing slightly, the hindrance of his age was really starting to catch up with him.

Henry’s coughing seemed to surprise Bendy slightly as his maddened grin wavered a little, the demon then lowered his head to Henry’s level and growled viciously, a mixture of ink and blood foamed around his mouth and dripped from his sharp teeth, his crimson eye was intensely focused on Henry, making his monstrous appearance all the more terrifying.

Despite that though, the human simply smiled back and raised a hand to rest upon Bendy’s head and gently caressed him between the horns, which unsurprisingly got a snarling response from the devil. The older man was undeterred however, and firmly but gently locked his gaze with Bendy’s.

_'It’s alright, Bendy…I’m here…I’m here…’_ The human reassured him over and over, hoping that somehow, the message was getting through to him.

Both of their eyes suddenly widened however, when they both felt something snap in the connection, and it was only then when the static started to finally fade. 

The intense scarlet red pinprick that was Bendy’s pupil slowly dulled down and became a little wider and more rounded, until it was fully white again. The demon’s other sharpened features became much softer once again, making him look much less intimidating than before.

The red and black vein-like splatters that pooled around the demon’s hands also slowly faded, any remains of it seeped into the wooden floorboards before disappearing completely. Henry lowered his hand from Bendy’s head and gazed at it with a tired frown. His palm held a small remainder of the warm, sticky, black and red substance, he grimaced slightly at it.

What the Hell was the deal with all of the sudden blood that Bendy had seemed to produce? And what was up with that red eye? Not to mention their connection, it felt more… open than before, what with the fact that they were able to read each other’s thoughts now for…some reason.  

It must have had something to do with his dreams, surely? Henry sighed, his mind was fuzzy and he was far too exhausted to even question it any longer, more than anything he was just relieved that Bendy was back to normal.

A low whine suddenly caught the human’s attention as Bendy softly nuzzled Henry’s head before giving him a worried look. Normally after a crazed episode like the one they had just went through, Henry would have been nervous at the touch, but he simply gave the large demon a tired smile.

_**'Henry…?’**_  A deep but timid voice mentally asked.

The man reached out to give the demon a small but reassuring pat on the cheek.

“See, bud? I told you…that everything…was gonna be alright…” Henry could feel himself slowly drift into unconsciousness, he tried to fight it as best as he could as he knew it was going to worry Bendy, and he absolutely hated that, but his body had other ideas as it desperately needed to recover.

His hand limply dropped from Bendy’s cheek to his side as he drifted off, earning a panicked response from the demon. He quickly placed his large head onto the human’s chest, and was instantly relieved when he felt the steady rise and fall of his breathing.  

_**'Ah…good…he’s only sleeping…’**_  The demon mentally reassured himself, before looking down.

Bendy couldn’t even begin to decipher what had happened, Henry had been injured, he had leaked some sort of dark substance…but what was it? The demon frowned slightly, he hated being colour-blind, it was hard to tell the difference between the different shades of white, grey and black. The liquid that had leaked from Henry was very dark, but there was no way that it had been ink, it felt more…powerful.

Henry had told him something before about the liquid that served as the life force for humans, what was it called again…?  

_**'Blaad? Bliid? No…Blo-…Blood! That was what he called it!’**_ Bendy grinned proudly as he remembered, before frowning slightly.

Henry had also told him that blood needed to remain inside the body for humans to stay alive, if they lost too much of it…

Bendy gazed back down to Henry again and checked his breathing once more just to double-check that he was still ok, sighing in relief once he could confirm that he was. But he wasn’t going to be fully convinced until the human woke up, and he didn’t know how long that was going to take…

So, the demon settled himself down next to the sleeping man and draped a single arm around him, taking extra care to not touch his wounds and tried not to jostle him around too much, as not to disturb him. Once Henry was settled comfortably against him, Bendy closed his single eye to doze off a little, but made sure to be alert enough for any threats.  

He really hoped that Henry would wake up soon.

**Author's Note:**

> So did ya enjoy the pain? 
> 
> Let me know what y'all think!


End file.
